Chuck Liddel jumps on the Kimbo hate bandwagon

Chuck Liddell irked by Kimbo’s popularity

MonkeyScrotumCleaningTv.
Apr 1, 8:42 pm EDT

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (21-5), arguably MMA’s biggest star just as the sport began its march toward the mainstream, is appalled by Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (2-0) and says a checkered past of beating up a “bunch of guys on the street” is the only reason for his popularity.

Liddell talked about EliteXC’s prized heavyweight in a recent interview with our friend Mark Gilbert of The Sun.

According to Liddell, Ferguson is training and learning MMA, but he “hasn’t done anything” to earn the praise he receives.

“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game,” Liddell told The Sun. “He’s training and he’s learning but he’s been built up as such a big star, and that’s the thing that bothers me.

“People talk about him like he’s the next great thing when he really hasn’t done anything. He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street.”

Ferguson’s initial fame came from underground fight videos posted on YouTube and other video-sharing websites. Based in Miami, the 34-year-old almost always dominated his opponents in the bare-knuckle fights. (Ferguson, though, was eventually stopped by Boston police officer Sean Gannon, who was later signed by the UFC with a mere 1-0 professional record.)

“I could make some impressive knockout videos too if you let me walk outside and just punch people and knock them out—“hey you, come fight!” Liddell told The Sun. “F*** we can make a highlight reel tomorrow and go round beating people up and talking about it. We could just go up to people and start dropping them. Wow!”

Liddell is currently slated to face Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 85, an event that takes place June 7 in London. After winning seven consecutive fights, Liddell suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in his career, losing his belt to Quinton Jackson in the process. He rebounded for a victory over Wanderlei Silva in December.

Ferguson, meanwhile, is slated to headline the first EliteXC-CBS event on May 31. The organization hasn’t announced an opponent, but James Thompson appears to be the leading candidate.

Ok I'm the first guy to say that Kimbo has idiot fans that overhype him ridiculously. But i don't understand all the hate on this guy. I mean Chuck admits that he's learning and training MMA. It's not his fault he's EliteXC's biggest draw. He also didn't exactly go around KOing random people, but I'll admit the internet fights were pretty stupid.

Chuck Liddel criticizing Kimbo's "ground game?" Chuck has insane takedown defense, but all of a sudden Chuck Liddel is a BJJ black belt or something?

I really don't get why so many people seem to hate Kimbo so much. Every interview he does he says over and over he's still a small fry in MMA, and he's just trying to train hard and fight whoever they throw in front of him. I don't see why Chuck Liddel needs to be doing interviews taking shots at Kimbo. Kimbo isn't even in the UFC. Why should Chuck care how much hype Kimbo gets?

On another note, James Thompson vs Kimbo? Poor James Thompson lol. He has no chin and likes to try to brawl with people, as evidenced by him getting KTFO at street certified. Should be fun to watch though.

Arguably the best thing about Kimbo's personality is his humility. He does admit he needs to get more experience but I think personally he's on his way. As for pure, raw fighting and punching ability the man ain't scared of anyone they put in front of him and he sees it as a personal challenge I think to rise to the top. He's on his way.

Yes, he can be overhyped but unlike many he's not afraid to take a hit, he's not scared to fight anyone and he's doing what he loves. I agree, I see no reason to hate on him. He's going to do good at MMA given the chance and the fact he went out and got training under qualified MMA instructor like Bas Rutten then I say that he's doing it right by trying to get away from bare knuckle fighting and taking his game to a whole new level in the actual ring.

Chuck Liddel criticizing Kimbo's "ground game?" Chuck has insane takedown defense, but all of a sudden Chuck Liddel is a BJJ black belt or something?

I really don't get why so many people seem to hate Kimbo so much. Every interview he does he says over and over he's still a small fry in MMA, and he's just trying to train hard and fight whoever they throw in front of him. I don't see why Chuck Liddel needs to be doing interviews taking shots at Kimbo. Kimbo isn't even in the UFC. Why should Chuck care how much hype Kimbo gets?

On another note, James Thompson vs Kimbo? Poor James Thompson lol. He has no chin and likes to try to brawl with people, as evidenced by him getting KTFO at street certified. Should be fun to watch though.

Chuck's a purple belt and a former D1 wrestler. He has a ground game.

I think Chuck sees the push being given to Kimbo and thinks it is bringing the sport into disrepute. OK he now trains with a good camp but he's get's his notoreity from illegal fights and that's not teh sort of association we want with MMA. Until Kimbo fights a MMA player with strong ground skills he's going to be viewed as a freakshow cashing in on illegal boxing fights.

I see their protecting their investment by putting him in with Thompson. Ah well

Wow I didn't know Chuck was a purple belt. Point taken. But one point of my own is apparently law enforcement people saw the videos and determined that Kimbos fights did not constitute crimes. So it's not like Kimbo is this arch criminal beating up random ppl.

But seriously, how does Kimbo getting pushed by EliteXC affect Chuck Liddel in any way? It doesn't take any money from him. It doesn't take away any fights or promotion from Chuck. All it does is bring more fans to MMA, fans who might also contribute to Chuck's bottom line as well. Chuck is probably still the #1 draw in MMA even after his 2 losses before beating Wanderlei, and makes tons more money than Kimbo. I'm not entirely sure what his beef is.

Why could he just say something like "Kimbo seems like a good guy. Congrats to him on his success, but I don't think it's good for MMA to have a street brawler be one of the most promoted fighters. . . etc etc" Was it necessary to go on a multi-paragraph hate rant against Kimbo?

If Kimbo himself went around and said he was hot **** and the next best thing, then I could see a problem, but he has always insisted that he is a beginner at mma. Either Chuck hasn't bothered to read/listen/watch and Kimbo interviews, or he's just being Dana's propaganda puppet again.